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Asus UX21 11.6-inch Light and Thin Laptop Review and Price

Modeling after the Apple MacBook Air is a design feat few have taken on, with the Samsung Series 9 being one of the most recent examples. Now throw Asus into the mix. At Computex 2011, the Asus UX21 takes on more MacBook Air characteristics than any other ultraportable I've seen thus far, and it packs quite a performance punch for a little guy.

The term "unibody" is a design term coined by Apple and one that Asus had no trouble using when it lifted the wraps off of the UX21. Indeed, its unibody frame is entirely engorged in aluminum metal, a much more polished version than the one found on the MacBook Air. The metal is hardened so that any worries about its durability should be put to the rest.Like the Air 11-inch, the UX21 has a sloping design, which starts at 7mm in the back and tapers to 3mm once you reach the front bezel. It tips the scales at 2.2 pounds, which is exactly what the Air 11-inch weighs. The 11.6-inch widescreen and 1,366x768 resolution are also consistent with the Air. It uses a similar Chiclet-style keyboard and glass touchpad, though I found the two mouse buttons a bit too resistant for my tastes.

There are some subtle differences with regards to their feature sets. One of the UX21's two USB ports houses USB 3.0 technology (the Air 11-inch has two USB 2.0 ports). Instead of mini-DisplayPort, the UX21 has a mini-HDMI port. They both don't have built-in SD card readers, which would have been impressive had Asus pulled one off. Storage comes in SSD varieties: 64GB or 128GB. Asus also claims that with these drives, the UX21 can resume from sleep in two seconds.

The UX21 that was on display ran on an Intel Core i5-2557M (1.7GHz) processor, which means it's a standard voltage variant and more powerful than the low-voltage ones found in the Samsung Series 9 and MacBook Airs. Asus also claims that it can scale as high as a Core i7, though it didn't say which one. With a standard volt processor, battery life becomes a concern. And given its size, a more powerful CPU, and the fact that the battery is completely sealed in means that we're looking at no more than five hours.There's no word on pricing yet, but when I asked one of the PR reps if the Asus UX21 will be less expensive than the MacBook Air 11-inch, the answer was a resounding yes.[www.pcmag.com]